Rondeau The English version of the rondeau is shortened. The form is an eight line poem with 7-8 syllables per line and an ab rhyme scheme. The challenge with the rondeau is the refrain which ends the poem. The refrain is initially expressed in the first measured meter of the poem. Thus, the first part of the opening line establishes the rhyme for the b lines.
Autumn
The leaves once so pure and frail
Were liberated from their fears
Swept off by a promising gale
To unfamiliar frontiers
The somber tree watched the sun-set
A wistful view of times that were
Certain that he would not forget
The leaves once so pure
An Ode is an elaborate and stately lyric poem of some length. The ode dates back to the Greek choral songs that were sung and danced at public events and celebrations. The Greek odes of Pindar, which were modeled on the choral odes of Greek drama, were poems of praise or glorification. The modern ode maintains the same spirit as its Greek ancestor but is considerably shorter. An Elegy essentially is an ode that glorifies someone or something that no longer lives. If you choose to American ode/elegy it must contain at least twenty lines; all other form considerations are up to the composer, although the verse must be lyrical in order to qualify as an ode/elegy. Below is an example of an ode and an elegy:
Elegy of Despair
The candle flickers wildly
cold winds shriek in from space 
hope has forsaken me
for I have fallen from her grace
Driven to a darkened destiny
By a life I only mimed
I behold vanity’s looking glass–
and view the portrait of my crime
I am left here with my conscience
and visions of my past
all my hopes and dreams
abandoned here at last
The candle shines so brightly
there is no wind at all
My mind—an empty abyss
misshapen from my fall
One can not force the hand of fate
nor bathe along a gluttonous shore
for the wind taunts of late
And the candle shines no more
Heroes
Awaken! Open those lifeless eyes
and walk in the shadow of Ghandi’s spirit
Like life that receives rain from the sky
we must seek despair and bare it.
We must raise our heads from silent prayers
behold the suffering—hear their cries!
Open our hands to catch Christ’s tears
and cleanse the soul of mankind’s demise.
Martin Luther King inspired us each to feel
a strength that is enveloped in brotherly love
We must open our hearts to reveal
that which is proffered from above
We must remember the soldiers of peace
who heroically sacrificed for freedom;
Their unselfish deeds will always lie
within our heavenly kingdom.
If we permit their dreams to set
like the sun after a wasted day
We neglect the hope God has accorded
and the providence to which we pray.
The destiny of mankind
(the hope of the human race)
sentient, fragile, undefined–
a blessed infant in our embrace.
